Rabat - After ranking Morocco as the country with the highest population without a bank account last year, Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM) announced in its latest report that the number of newly opened bank accounts in the North African country has risen from 2.1 million in 2020 to a total of 2.3 million in 2021. 

According to BAM -- which has officially published its bank account data for the year 2021 -- 31.2 million open accounts have been recognized at the level of Central Bank Accounts at the end of December 2021, up 5% from 2020.

Checking accounts comprise more than 63% of all accounts established (19.8 million), while saving accounts make up the remaining 30% (9.4 million), reported the BAM.

The report also found that 2.1 million accounts have not been active for at least a year, while 0.3% of the accounts opened (103,458) are denominated in foreign currencies, with 82% held in Euros.

According to BAM’s report, 7.5 million people have at least one bank account. Fewer than 4% were opened by legal entities (644,338), while more than 96% belong to individuals (37.4% women and 62.6% men).

49.4 % of these individuals have just one open account, 27.8 % have two accounts, and 12.4 percent have three accounts.

The “60+” age group ranks highest (3.4 million), followed by “31-35” and “36-40” (each 1.9 million), BAM adds.

BAM also reported that 578,617 people established their first bank account in 2021, compared to 543,057 in 2020. 45% of these new accounts were opened by women and 24% came from individuals between 21 and 25 years old, while 15% were between 19 and 20 years old. 

94% of the new account holders were Moroccans resident in Morocco, while 4% were Moroccans living abroad.